Gasoline
by oddishh
Summary: They never stood a chance.


_You can't wake up._

 _This is not a dream._

 _You're part of a machine._

 _You are not a human being._

He could have stopped this.

His mind flitted through the memories. It all happened too quickly for Lea to process. He remembered the guard known as Dilan grab Isa up while the other guard Aeleus took care of him. He called out to his best friend, Isa telling him to stay calm as the blue-haired boy's form grew more and more distant.

Lea woke up in a small, dank room. His head spun with searing pain and he was still out of sorts from the entire experience. The redhead surveyed the darkened chamber he was occupying, trying to assess his surroundings properly.

"Isa?" He called out weakly, realizing rather fast that he was alone.

He could have stopped this. Isa warned him several times that this was a bad idea, but Lea persisted. He convinced his more reserved friend to give their little break-in one last attempt, as more rumors of strange comings-and-goings at the castle persisted. Isa begrudgingly decided to give it one more shot, his own curiosity mixed with Lea's exuberance enough for him to cave.

Now, Lea thought, his best friend in the whole world could be dead because of him.

Right before another attempt at another cry for his friend, there was a scream. A scream he had heard maybe once before, right after a certain incident with a broken leg.

He never screamed.

"Isa!" Lea called desperately, recognizing the agonized sound almost immediately.

His door was opened, and as Lea made an attempt to escape he was promptly knocked out.

/

The Apprentices told Lea that what they were doing was for the greater good. It was all to better society and protect Radiant Garden.

The one named Xehanort told him that his heart was strong and "had potential", whatever that meant. Pokes and prods were performed in and around his heart nearly daily, the stress they were putting it through making it harder and harder for Lea to find any optimism.

At first, he fought like a rabid dog. He kicked and thrashed and refused to work with them. Lea had only one goal: to get him and Isa out of this hellhole.

Then, the threats came. Xehanort smiled almost sinisterly, promising to double the experimentation on Isa if Lea continued refusing. "After all," he had said, "the boy has been begging me to stop hurting you." He grinned again, almost a smirk. "He has more potential than you, as it is. You may be free to go if you keep this attitude up and then your friend can take it all."

Lea was quick to stop resisting after those threats.

He never saw Isa, but often heard his screams. He seemed to be getting experimented on more than he was. What made Isa so special? Sure, there was a reason Lea had him as his best friend but what was Xehanort getting at?

Experiments continued, with Isa being the main lab rat. Sure, Lea was used for a few things but the primary focus was on the blue-haired boy.

Sometimes, Lea would hear Xehanort talking to himself, muttering. The one that rang the most interesting was also the most mysterious.

"They have the same hair. Same smile. Same strength. What was her name…? Who?"

/

The next time Lea woke up, something felt different. There was a draft, the tiny cell he was in feeling more open. The darkness had subsided a bit.

He looked to the door, finding that it had miraculously opened.

Did someone leave it open? Did…?

Lea took no more time to try and figure out the why. The redhead leaped up, creeping to the door and poking his head out. There was no one to be seen.

Isa.

Lea stepped out without considering or caring about the consequences. He focused his senses to where he remembered hearing the screaming he identified as his best friend's. He took careful steps, passing by a few cells that seemed to be empty until he reached a closed door. He was quick to undo the triple-bolted lock.

The door opened with a small groan, revealing an image that both horrified and relieved Lea.

"Lea?" Isa whispered, bruised and beaten. His clothes were tattered and his face was gaunt. Lea only imagined how he looked. "How did…?"

"I got out," Lea whispered back, a little less quiet. "My door was open. Don't know why though." He crossed the room briskly, despite the soreness in his legs, and held his friend in an embrace. Isa reciprocated, wrapping his arms around Lea's skinny waist. "I thought we were gonna die," he said shakily.

"Me too," Isa replied. "It's just so good to see you, Lea. Really."

Isa was the first to pull away, looking at his friend soberly. "We have to move. They'll be back any second-"

Somewhere close, a scream rung out. Lea and Isa froze.

"Okay," Lea chuckled nervously. "You're right. We gotta move."

Lea led the way as the pair took careful steps to the set of stairs out of the dungeon, just a few yards away from Isa's cell. Isa was right on his heels, not wanting to risk being separated again. The duo ascended slowly, trying their best not to make any noise. Lea could feel Isa's breathing softly on the back of his neck. Feeling his normally collected friend's nervousness made Lea that much more internally panicked.

Eventually, they reached the top of the staircase. The redhead peered around carefully, Isa silent behind him.

Then, just as his vision panned to the left, he felt Isa grab the back of his shirt.

"Wait, Lea-"

Before the blue-haired boy could finish, Lea let out a shout as a strong arm grabbed him and threw him to the ground. Isa pitched forward, losing his grip on the redhead's shirt and falling to the hard ground.

"Isa!" Lea reached for his friend, but the same hand from before grabbed him again, preventing him from helping his now unconscious friend.

"You two have exhausted the last of my patience," Xehanort said lowly. The silver-haired man looked uncharacteristically disheveled, something Lea took note of.

"Why are you even doing this?! Why can't you just let us go?" Lea pleaded, trying to break free of the man's grip. Xehanort proceeded to hold on even tighter.

"It's simple," he said with a menacing note in his voice, "I need a VII and VIII. Your friend was already planned to be inducted in the ranks, but I suppose you'll do as well."

"What does that even mean?!"

"It means that we'll start with you, Number VII." Lea struggled some more, but promptly stopped when Xehanort summoned a dark and almost key-shaped weapon. His mind flitted back to that boy they met, Ven. The redhead was both stunned and terrified.

"I'm sorry, Isa," Lea said softly, resigning himself to his fate when he realized there was no escaping this.

What happened next was so fast and so chaotic that later on, Lea had to break it down piece-by-piece. He saw a flash of blue, which turned out to be Isa jumping on Xehanort from behind. If it was meant to be a distraction, then it worked. Furious, the silver-haired man attempted to shrug the teen off of him. It took more effort than he thought.

Beaten and weak, Lea stood to wobbly legs as he tried to help Isa. Xehanort was quick to notice and shot a dark beam straight at Lea's chest. He collapsed backwards, howling in pain.

"Stop!" Isa yelled, desperate in a way that was out of character as Lea writhed on the floor. He struggled with the older man, trying to prevent him from using the key-like weapon in his hand.

Shrugged off yet again, Isa landed into a sitting position. The anger and grief in his eyes was evident, and he nearly got up to make a run for the injured Lea before Xehanort promptly brought his blade up.

Lea stared on in horror as Isa was struck across the face. Blood splattered in the air, a gash of red now snaked from the top of his forehead to the opposite cheek.

Isa screamed, the agony in his cries so painful Lea wished he were deaf. He had never heard Isa express pain so outwardly. The rawness of his reaction left Lea's heart the heaviest it had felt in memory. The blue-haired teen held his face with a hand, blood seeping between his fingers as he shook with agony and rage.

"I will not put up with Recusants," Xehanort declared furiously. He grabbed the hand Isa held in front of his face, blade held on the opposite side of the gash.

"Leave him ALONE! Please! Take me! Stop!" Lea pleaded, trying to get to his feet despite his injuries, only to collapse back down with a whimper.

Lea could only yell in protest as Xehanort marked Isa with another gash, forming a bloody 'X' on his face.

"You BASTARD!"

Isa collapsed, both from anguish and blood loss. Lea made a few more protests, calling out for his friend before fainting himself.

/

Lea woke up without feeling, without purpose. It was the emptiest he had ever felt. The fear for Isa's life-and by extension his-barely registered as something he should care about.

He sat up with dead eyes, surveying his surroundings with no emotion, despite Isa's unconscious and bloodied form directly facing him. This did little to faze him, grief a distant memory.

It was almost as if he no longer had a heart.


End file.
